Row builds over use of British bases

Press, 16 April 1986, Page 1

Row builds over use of British bases

NZPA-PA London The British Prime Minister, Mrs Margaret Thatcher, and her Cabinet face a furious political row in the Commons over the revelation by the United States that Fill planes based in Britain took part in the Libyan bombing. The Opposition 'will demand a full statement on the facts and of the British Government’s part in the United States raids.

Week-end reports had indicated Mrs Thatcher had baulked at a request from President Reagan to use the British bases as a launching pad for the attack.

The British Foreign Secretary, Sir Geoffrey Howe, yesterday supported the United States air raid as being essential and defended Britain’s role in the attack.

Sir Geoffrey, speaking on 8.8. C. radio, said: “Are we to stand by and allow terrorism directed by Libyan authorities to continue absolutely unchecked when they have been appealed to by peaceful means through the United Nations Security Council — when we have got clear evidence of further intended plans of similar terrorist acts? "In those circumstances some action becomes not merely justifiable but essential.”

The Leader of the Labour Party, Mr Neil Kinnock, said attacks on targets in Libya, including civilians, possibly Including Britons, “is not an intelligent way of tackling terrorism.”

“Gadaffi this morning has more friends than he had last week and that has got to be bad,” he said.

The use of British-based United States aircraft was a misuse, of N.A.T.O. forces.

The Dutch Foreign Minister, Mr Hans van den Broek, the president of the European Economic Community’s Council of Ministers, deplored the attack.

He said he was particularly disturbed that the attack came immediately after an emergency meeting yesterday of Ministers of the 12 Community countries. The Ministers urged a search for a diplomatic Solution to the United States-Libya conflict to avoid a military escalation.

Spain voiced alarm and concern over the air raids and said the planes involved in the attack had not penetrated Spanish airspace. In West Germany, the air strike drew opposition and appeals for Arab restraint from politicians. A spokesman for the Minister of Economics, Mr Martin Bangemann, said it was “scarcely possible to have any understanding for such .a move.”

The Deputy Foreign Minister, Mr Juergen Moellemann, appealing to Arab States to be prudent and proceed to a dialogue with Europe on the Middle East, said everyone must now have fears of an escalation of the confrontation.

Syria joined Iran in calling for retaliation against the United States. Syria "stands steadfastly on Libya’s side and places its entire potential at Libya’s disposal,” a statement said. It called on all Arab Governments to “confront this aggressive action and take all the necessary measures to abort it and thwart its objectives.”

Sweden condemned the United States raid as "serious and most danger- , ous”

Italy, a member of N.A.T.0., and the closest European mainland country to Libya, urged Mr Reagan’s envoy, Lieuten-ant-General Vernon Walters, to weigh European Community feeling in deciding whether to take action against the North African State.

In Moscow, a political news analyst, Vladimir Goncharov, said in a commentary carried by the official Soviet news agency, Tass, that the United States, “has started speaking in its true tongue — the tongue of bombs, flames and death.”

Three Palestinian guerrilla groups called on Arab States to take action against the United States and Britain, says a report from Damascus.

The Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (P.F.L.P.), the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine (D.F.L.P.) and the Abu Mousa group which broke away from the mainstream Fatah movement, also vowed to undermine United States interests worldwide.